Miami at Golden State
Time: 10:30 PM ET, Feb 12, 2014
TV: NBA TV
Spread: GSW -1.5
M/L: GSW -122; MIA +102
Total: 204
Betting odds courtesy of 5dimes
The Miami Heat rebounded from a shocking loss to Utah on Feb 8 by defeating the surging Phoenix Suns 103-97 last night (Tues Feb 11). LeBron James had a monster game, hitting 12-of-22 from the floor and 11-of-14 from the line en route to 37 points, to go with nine rebounds and three assists.
The Heat will look to build on that momentum in a tough game on the road, as the team travels to the Oracle arena to take on the Golden State Warriors. NBA oddsmakers favor the Warriors by 1.5 points in the contest which will air on NBA TV.
Golden State is trying to make its push up the Western Conference standings and currently sits sixth, trailing the Houston Rockets by four games for the fifth spot. The Warriors are 5-5 over its past 10 games and 16-9 at home this season. The Warriors trounced the 76ers at home Monday (Feb 10) night.
Marreese Speights was huge off the bench, connecting on 12-of-15 from the floor en route to a career high 32 points. Speights is a good finisher at the rim and serves to give the Warriors more depth if David Lee should encounter foul trouble. Draymond Green got the start at power forward and he had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Warriors have one of the most complete starting fives in the NBA, and good depth to balance it out. The starting backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combines for 42.9 points per game and David Lee is a double-double machine. The team is a legit contender in the sense that it is strong enough to give run to any of the upper tier teams.
Mark Jackson has made the Warriors defense far stronger than it was in years’ past, and the acquisition of all-world defender Andre Iguodala was instrumental in that as well. The Warriors surrender just 98.7 points per game while scoring 103.4 as a team. Combine this with dominance on the boards (2nd in NBA with 46 rebs per game), and the Warriors could have just what it takes to defeat the Miami Heat. The Heat are the league’s worst rebounding team, and though the transition defense for MIami is good, The Warriors flank the wings with good shooters.
MIA Trends: OVER 12-2 in last 14 Wednesday games; 4-1 ATS in last 5 vs teams with winning SU records; 1-4 ATS in last 5 Wednesday games.
GSW Trends: 0-4 ATS in last 4 Wednesday games; 0-7 ATS in last 7 following SU win; 0-4 ATS in last 4 following SU win of more than 10 points.
Head-to-head: Heat 1-4 ATS in last 5 meetings; Heat 6-2-1 ATS in last 9 in Golden State; OVER 5-2 in last 7 meetings in Golden State.
